About This Book

Andrea Ventura is one of the world’s most sought-after visual artists. Clearly influenced by the early expressionists, his work has been commissioned by a variety of international clients. This is the first book to showcase his outstanding art.

Carnevale is autobiographical and reflects Andrea Ventura's fascination with daily life. The included art documents and comments on various stages of his life in Milan, Rome, New York, Paris, Venice, and Berlin. From paintings of the deathbeds of famous philosophers and poets that he admires to scenes of the artist's family, the book features work that defines who Ventura is.

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The painter Andrea Ventura has primarily become world famous through his illustrations. His contract work, which is done in an expressionistic and painterly style, is unmistakably original. An impressive client list including publications such as the New York Times, the New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, Businessweek, AD, Playboy, and Rolling Stone attests to his talent.

Carnevale is the first monograph of Ventura’s personal artwork, the quality of which even supersedes that of his contract work and makes clear that this is source and driving force behind his remarkable creativity. Reflecting Ventura’s fascination with daily life, the book is autobiographical. The included art documents and comments on various stages of his life.

Ventura’s perspective is existentialistic, and his style expressionistic. Whether he has painted a sparse interior, a monument, an exterior view, a cemetery, mass transit, a sober still life, or an empty bathroom, he brings the scene to life with a muted light. He captures his subjects in a melancholy aura that makes the irrelevant significant.

Although Ventura paints with a cool distance, his artwork reveals his personal vulnerability. Carnevale presents paintings of famous philosophers and poets—his heroes—on their deathbeds, the post-war life of the artist’s family, and portraits of his twin brother, the famous photographer Paolo Ventura. Between Milan, Rome, New York, Innsbruck, Paris, Venice, and Berlin, the book showcases autobiographical chapters that have defined Ventura’s life.

In 1991, Andrea Ventura moved to New York and now splits his time between Brooklyn and Berlin. The native Italian has shown his work in various solo and group exhibitions in Berlin, Milan, Rome, and Bologna. In 2010, he won a gold medal at Germany's LeadAwards for his illustrations in AD. He has also been awarded Gold and Silver by the Society of Illustrators.